What do you think?
Rate this book
Warhammer Crime #Anthology
No Good Men
A Warhammer Crime anthology
In the megacity of Varangantua, life is cheap and crime is rife… Experience seven tales from across this vast urban sprawl in a collection of short stories by some of Black Library's finest.
READ IT BECAUSE
Discover some of the many tales from Varangantua, encompassing the highest and lowest citizens of the city, and showing some of the darker sides of the 41st Millennium.
DESCRIPTION
In the grim darkness of the far future, there is a vast city… an urban sprawl of murder and corruption. A den of vice and illicit deeds where the law is failing and justice is fleeting. Glutted merchant-kings turn the wheels of industry, feeding the engine of war on distant worlds while the lowly dream only of survival. As the gilded prosper, hidden behind their fortress walls, the masses must find a place within the underbelly. But regardless of station, whether criminal or law-keeper, one fact remains true – this city is dirty, and no one escapes it without a little sin.
For in Varangantua, there are no good men.
CONTENTS
Aberrant by Chris Wraight
Exit Wound by Darius Hinks
The View from Olympus by Gareth Hanrahan
Impurities by Graham McNeill
No Use for Good Men by Guy Haley
Cold Cases by Marc Collins
Against the Grain by Nick Kyme
In the megacity of Varangantua, life is cheap and crime is rife… Experience seven tales from across this vast urban sprawl in a collection of short stories by some of Black Library's finest.
READ IT BECAUSE
Discover some of the many tales from Varangantua, encompassing the highest and lowest citizens of the city, and showing some of the darker sides of the 41st Millennium.
DESCRIPTION
In the grim darkness of the far future, there is a vast city… an urban sprawl of murder and corruption. A den of vice and illicit deeds where the law is failing and justice is fleeting. Glutted merchant-kings turn the wheels of industry, feeding the engine of war on distant worlds while the lowly dream only of survival. As the gilded prosper, hidden behind their fortress walls, the masses must find a place within the underbelly. But regardless of station, whether criminal or law-keeper, one fact remains true – this city is dirty, and no one escapes it without a little sin.
For in Varangantua, there are no good men.
CONTENTS
Aberrant by Chris Wraight
Exit Wound by Darius Hinks
The View from Olympus by Gareth Hanrahan
Impurities by Graham McNeill
No Use for Good Men by Guy Haley
Cold Cases by Marc Collins
Against the Grain by Nick Kyme
331 pages, Paperback
First published August 29, 2020
58 people are currently reading
304 people want to read
About the author
Chris Wraight
218 books380 followersChris Wraight is a British author of fantasy and science fiction.
His first novel was published in 2008; since then, he has published books set in the Warhammer Fantasy and Stargate:Atlantis universes, and has upcoming titles in the Warhammer 40K setting.
He is based in the south-west of England.
His first novel was published in 2008; since then, he has published books set in the Warhammer Fantasy and Stargate:Atlantis universes, and has upcoming titles in the Warhammer 40K setting.
He is based in the south-west of England.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
September 12, 2020
Some books you enjoy so much you can’t stop reading them; others you take you time over to prolong the pleasure- this is one of the latter, though the anthology format absolutely enables this.
Each of the stories adds so much depth to Varangantua, a setting which holds so much promise for the Warhammer Crime imprint.
The quality of each entry is consistently high, from BL stalwarts and newcomers alike, and like the previous entries in the series they play with the conventions of the genre whilst maintaining the intrinsic ‘40kness’ you want from BL.
It’s full of horrible people, doing horrible things for horrible reasons. But they’re just the right side of compelling and charismatic, and within the context of the world of Alecto and the Imperium itself almost excusable.
Aberrant by Chris Wraight
Revisits the protagonist of Bloodlines, and continues to explore the gritty and unpleasant realities of life at the very bottom of the Imperium that we statutes to explore with Dredge Runners; Zidarov and Wraight hopefully have a lot further to go than these two stories.
Exit Wound by Darius Hinks
Presumably this is more than a stand-alone tale; complex and violent, it brings the reader to a new strata of hive life.
The View from Olympus by Gareth Hanrahan.
The closest the anthology comes to a classic whodunnit. Engaging and unpredictable it is very accessible but still passes the intangible 40k test.
Impurities by Graham McNeill
The Imperium is unsustainable and unhealthy; as readers of BL we know this. I’m not sure I’ve read such a perfect example of just how much this is the case. Well worked and economical, it’s yet another great story that works perfectly as a short rather than a full novel
No Use for Good Men by Guy Haley
Is a contender for the best piece in the anthology. Guy Hayley is one of BL’s best for building the character of places and this does that; we see the desperation of both those trying to eke out an existence on Alecto and that of those who are trying to maintain order. Morality, by any measure, is shown to have little value but there are still those motivated by their own.
Cold Cases by Marc Collins
Is a really interesting study in obsession; it is genuinely unsettling and wouldn’t sit that far out of place in one of the Warhammer Horror anthologies.
Against the Grain by Nick Kyme
To me is very much in the mould of Robert B Parker’s Spenser- a military veteran private investigator who can’t stop his mouth getting him further into trouble. The story itself returns to many of the themes explored in earlier entries and shows the scope of the imprint and suggests where the aspirations of it lie. Reflecting on this, I’m expecting big things.
Each of the stories adds so much depth to Varangantua, a setting which holds so much promise for the Warhammer Crime imprint.
The quality of each entry is consistently high, from BL stalwarts and newcomers alike, and like the previous entries in the series they play with the conventions of the genre whilst maintaining the intrinsic ‘40kness’ you want from BL.
It’s full of horrible people, doing horrible things for horrible reasons. But they’re just the right side of compelling and charismatic, and within the context of the world of Alecto and the Imperium itself almost excusable.
Aberrant by Chris Wraight
Revisits the protagonist of Bloodlines, and continues to explore the gritty and unpleasant realities of life at the very bottom of the Imperium that we statutes to explore with Dredge Runners; Zidarov and Wraight hopefully have a lot further to go than these two stories.
Exit Wound by Darius Hinks
Presumably this is more than a stand-alone tale; complex and violent, it brings the reader to a new strata of hive life.
The View from Olympus by Gareth Hanrahan.
The closest the anthology comes to a classic whodunnit. Engaging and unpredictable it is very accessible but still passes the intangible 40k test.
Impurities by Graham McNeill
The Imperium is unsustainable and unhealthy; as readers of BL we know this. I’m not sure I’ve read such a perfect example of just how much this is the case. Well worked and economical, it’s yet another great story that works perfectly as a short rather than a full novel
No Use for Good Men by Guy Haley
Is a contender for the best piece in the anthology. Guy Hayley is one of BL’s best for building the character of places and this does that; we see the desperation of both those trying to eke out an existence on Alecto and that of those who are trying to maintain order. Morality, by any measure, is shown to have little value but there are still those motivated by their own.
Cold Cases by Marc Collins
Is a really interesting study in obsession; it is genuinely unsettling and wouldn’t sit that far out of place in one of the Warhammer Horror anthologies.
Against the Grain by Nick Kyme
To me is very much in the mould of Robert B Parker’s Spenser- a military veteran private investigator who can’t stop his mouth getting him further into trouble. The story itself returns to many of the themes explored in earlier entries and shows the scope of the imprint and suggests where the aspirations of it lie. Reflecting on this, I’m expecting big things.
December 20, 2023
A good selection. Usual “issues” with anthologies that I experience when reading them straight through (not at all the fault of the book/authors).
I think Hanrahan’s, McNeill’s and Haley’s were my favourite stories herein.
Recommended.
I think Hanrahan’s, McNeill’s and Haley’s were my favourite stories herein.
Recommended.
November 20, 2020
Honestly a bit bemused by this. Each individual story is fantastic - Graham McNeill’s tale very CyberPunk and definitely favourite. But when you put them together, they’re all the same - the same backdrop, the same colour palette, the same players, and an effectively identical basic narrative. And this all means that the anthology becomes less than the sum of its parts - which is weird (possibly even unique). Would love to see more standalone stories!
September 16, 2020
3.5 overall - great stories individually, but as an anthology it's lacking in variety and diversity.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2020/09/...
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2020/09/...
February 20, 2024
Normalerweise lese ich die Warhammer-Bücher lieber in der deutschen Übersetzung, da sehr viele Ausdrücke aus dem Militär oder aus dem Gebiet der Sci-Fi verwendet werden, die mir im Englischen wahrscheinlich nicht geläufig sind.
Jedoch wollte ich unbedingt die von Chris Wraight geschriebene Kurzgeschichte lesen und da diese nicht übersetzt ist und es wahrscheinlich auch nie sein wird, versuchte ich mich also doch mit der englischen Ausgabe.
Ich kann nicht sagen, wie viel davon selbsterfüllende Prophezeiung war, aber es fiel mir tatsächlich schwerer, in die Stimmung von Varangantua einzutauchen. Der Schreibstil der jeweiligen Autoren ist wie immer passend und formt diese gigantische Stadt, aber die Sprachbarriere war leider da.
Dennoch versuchte ich, die Geschichten so gut es ging, zu geniessen. Da noch nicht alle Crime-Titel auf Deutsch erhältlich sind, konnte ich auch gleich einige neue Figuren kennenlernen. Und ein paar altbekannte wiedertreffen.
Die Geschichten sind allesamt düster, dunkel und vom Nebel verschlungen. Varangantua ist ein Monster, das durch den Krieg wächst. Und auch wenn hier keine Soldaten durch die Strassen gehen, ist der Krieg allgegenwärtig...
Jedoch wollte ich unbedingt die von Chris Wraight geschriebene Kurzgeschichte lesen und da diese nicht übersetzt ist und es wahrscheinlich auch nie sein wird, versuchte ich mich also doch mit der englischen Ausgabe.
Ich kann nicht sagen, wie viel davon selbsterfüllende Prophezeiung war, aber es fiel mir tatsächlich schwerer, in die Stimmung von Varangantua einzutauchen. Der Schreibstil der jeweiligen Autoren ist wie immer passend und formt diese gigantische Stadt, aber die Sprachbarriere war leider da.
Dennoch versuchte ich, die Geschichten so gut es ging, zu geniessen. Da noch nicht alle Crime-Titel auf Deutsch erhältlich sind, konnte ich auch gleich einige neue Figuren kennenlernen. Und ein paar altbekannte wiedertreffen.
Die Geschichten sind allesamt düster, dunkel und vom Nebel verschlungen. Varangantua ist ein Monster, das durch den Krieg wächst. Und auch wenn hier keine Soldaten durch die Strassen gehen, ist der Krieg allgegenwärtig...
December 6, 2022
Surprisingly excellent collection of hardboiled noir set in the Warhammer 40k universe
July 16, 2022
Unexpectedly solid collection of hard-boiled noir styled after Warhammer 40K setting. The only thing I found jarring is that almost every story has an ending that feels rushed and wobbly.
January 13, 2022
Crime stories, but in the grim dark future! Some good, some bad. Most fun.
Setting: It's the 41st Millennium...
Style: Grim and Dark
Characters: Pretty cool
Plot: Solid entertainment
Setting: It's the 41st Millennium...
Style: Grim and Dark
Characters: Pretty cool
Plot: Solid entertainment
June 18, 2024
Need to maybe stop rating things so high but no ones the boss of me so that makes it easier. This book was a bunch of grimdark noir mystery short stories, wish they were more varied as most of them were from the perspective of probators (detectives), but entertaining nevertheless. I do love 40k vibes and that's probs cause for the 4 stars, fuck it.
October 4, 2020
Story 1: Aberrant, by Chris Wraight
I really like this story, even though I have mixed feelings about it, because it did something that Warhammer stories usually DON'T do, which is make me have mixed feelings. The story is about a detective who comes into contact with some Genestealer Cult. It's a little vignette about life in the hives and how it can be dangerous for the many ordinary and corrupted citizens, xenos, and the intersection between the two that can come into contact with them. Looking over the rest of the stories from the table of contents it seems like the rest of this book is similar vignettes (about 40-60 pages each) by 7 different authors, all set in the city of Varangantua. Wraight is as usual one of the top shelf authors in the stable, and you can see the quality in this tale much like it was evident in The Regent's Shadow and his other stories. 5/5
Story 2: Exit Wound by Darius Hinks.
This story is fantastic imo but you should take that with a grain of salt because I love assassins of all sorts and this was about a retired Imperial assassin, a Callidus. They do an assassination during the story and seem to be helping mutants who may also be the Genestealer Cult we saw earlier. Or not. I am unsure, although the description of the mutants he meets seem to match the GSC it’s also said in the story to match symptoms of a plague too. Regardless, a really good story from my POV. 5/5
Story 3: The View From Olympus by Gareth Hanrahan
We’re back to stories about detectives, this story is much like a standard NCIS or Law and Order episode except it is really really strange. There are elements of techno-horror going on here as well as normal police work and the story is made much more interesting for the techno-horror parts. 4/5 because the actual mystery is fairly by the numbers and doesn’t have what I would consider big twists
Story 4: Impurities by Graham McNeill
My favorite so far. This one follows an off the books former Astra Militarum soldier whose friend is killed, and his search for justice. I thought his friends and allies that were still living were really cool and the story as a whole was uplifting. It’s nice to see an example that not all in the grim darkness of the far future is wrong or even mixed. Sometimes it’s just the right thing to do.
Story 5: No Use For Good Men by Guy Haley
This one is written in the form of a diary entry because it appears that the poor guy is being tortured for information by other people or something. There is a weird message before the story begins implying that anyway. Anyway this story is about a food riot and a chase while it’s happening between a detective and a suspect, which has a weird, uncertain ending. Nothing particularly gets resolved, and it’s just a weird happening in the city it appears. 3/5. I like the content of the story but not really the amount that is there. It feels very unfinished and like a slice of what deserves to be a larger story.
Story 6: Cold Cases by Marc Collins. This story delves into the long term effects of obsession and depression on the human mind a bit, showing how it can affect a detective who's been working a lot of cases. Collins did a great job imo of creating a tense atmosphere throughout the story and a good twist ending. 5/5
Story 7: Against The Grain by Nick Kyme. I was expecting not to like this since Kyme's work in the long slog that was the Salamanders Omnibus was REALLY hard to get through sometimes. This one was another story about a detective that fans of mysteries would easily recognize the format of from a lot of callbacks to the sort of pulp fiction stories that was around in the 1930s. 4/5 - well executed but not, I thought, particularly original. Still enjoyable.
Overall I give the anthology a 4.5/5. I thought all of the stories were at minimum interesting and there were three that really stood out to me - Aberrant, Exit Wound, Impurities, and Cold Cases were all stories that were very good and worthy of inclusion, and I am excited to see more in the Varangantua city that I know will be coming from Chris Wraight and his character Agosto Zidarov. Honestly though even more than that I want to see a return of the ex-assassin Judah in the Darius Hinks story because I LOVED reading about that character. It's exactly the kind of cool assassin character I want to see in a 40k story.
Definitely worth the buy, especially for Warhammer fans.
I really like this story, even though I have mixed feelings about it, because it did something that Warhammer stories usually DON'T do, which is make me have mixed feelings. The story is about a detective who comes into contact with some Genestealer Cult. It's a little vignette about life in the hives and how it can be dangerous for the many ordinary and corrupted citizens, xenos, and the intersection between the two that can come into contact with them. Looking over the rest of the stories from the table of contents it seems like the rest of this book is similar vignettes (about 40-60 pages each) by 7 different authors, all set in the city of Varangantua. Wraight is as usual one of the top shelf authors in the stable, and you can see the quality in this tale much like it was evident in The Regent's Shadow and his other stories. 5/5
Story 2: Exit Wound by Darius Hinks.
This story is fantastic imo but you should take that with a grain of salt because I love assassins of all sorts and this was about a retired Imperial assassin, a Callidus. They do an assassination during the story and seem to be helping mutants who may also be the Genestealer Cult we saw earlier. Or not. I am unsure, although the description of the mutants he meets seem to match the GSC it’s also said in the story to match symptoms of a plague too. Regardless, a really good story from my POV. 5/5
Story 3: The View From Olympus by Gareth Hanrahan
We’re back to stories about detectives, this story is much like a standard NCIS or Law and Order episode except it is really really strange. There are elements of techno-horror going on here as well as normal police work and the story is made much more interesting for the techno-horror parts. 4/5 because the actual mystery is fairly by the numbers and doesn’t have what I would consider big twists
Story 4: Impurities by Graham McNeill
My favorite so far. This one follows an off the books former Astra Militarum soldier whose friend is killed, and his search for justice. I thought his friends and allies that were still living were really cool and the story as a whole was uplifting. It’s nice to see an example that not all in the grim darkness of the far future is wrong or even mixed. Sometimes it’s just the right thing to do.
Story 5: No Use For Good Men by Guy Haley
This one is written in the form of a diary entry because it appears that the poor guy is being tortured for information by other people or something. There is a weird message before the story begins implying that anyway. Anyway this story is about a food riot and a chase while it’s happening between a detective and a suspect, which has a weird, uncertain ending. Nothing particularly gets resolved, and it’s just a weird happening in the city it appears. 3/5. I like the content of the story but not really the amount that is there. It feels very unfinished and like a slice of what deserves to be a larger story.
Story 6: Cold Cases by Marc Collins. This story delves into the long term effects of obsession and depression on the human mind a bit, showing how it can affect a detective who's been working a lot of cases. Collins did a great job imo of creating a tense atmosphere throughout the story and a good twist ending. 5/5
Story 7: Against The Grain by Nick Kyme. I was expecting not to like this since Kyme's work in the long slog that was the Salamanders Omnibus was REALLY hard to get through sometimes. This one was another story about a detective that fans of mysteries would easily recognize the format of from a lot of callbacks to the sort of pulp fiction stories that was around in the 1930s. 4/5 - well executed but not, I thought, particularly original. Still enjoyable.
Overall I give the anthology a 4.5/5. I thought all of the stories were at minimum interesting and there were three that really stood out to me - Aberrant, Exit Wound, Impurities, and Cold Cases were all stories that were very good and worthy of inclusion, and I am excited to see more in the Varangantua city that I know will be coming from Chris Wraight and his character Agosto Zidarov. Honestly though even more than that I want to see a return of the ex-assassin Judah in the Darius Hinks story because I LOVED reading about that character. It's exactly the kind of cool assassin character I want to see in a 40k story.
Definitely worth the buy, especially for Warhammer fans.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 10, 2025
Bit of an anticlimax, sadly, because pretty much every story is the same: a dark, tormented investigator (usually an official lawman, if maybe looked at as a bit of a loner by his colleagues - and it's always his colleagues) tries to solve a mysterious murder or disappearance and is drawn into a dark web of corruption which ends up shaking his faith in the order of things even further... (lighter flick sound effect) Varangantua was a rotten city, rotten to the core, death lurked around every corner... and the rich in their big hives, well, they were just as rotten... It was a dish best served with a strong side of whiskey or like amasec or whatever we call it...
So it really just comes down to whose writing you like. I still think Chris Wraight is the best-suited to Warhammer Crime, good at writing dialogue and putting his gift for characterisation to good use. This is a prequel to his later WH Crime novel, which I'd luckily read. Gareth Hanrahan (who I'd never read before) serves a nice pulpy bit of SF noir and comes across like he's actually read classic noir before, which is a plus. But the similarity of the plots wore on me (though I liked the mad SF-punk overreach of Graham McNeill's offering) and I liked each story a little less than the one before it. By the time I got to Kyme's (the longest, and by this point, feeling like the least original) I was kind of sick of the whole thing.
Many of these WHCrime anthologies seem to be used as 'pilot episodes' by the various authors, hoping to get their character their own novel or at least a follow-up short story (hence Grim Repast following the story Cold Cases, Bloodlines following Aberrant, etc). As someone reading a while after the WHCrime line seems to have spluttered to a halt - someone who hasn't been able to buy every anthology or novel - it's more than a little annoying that I'm expected to get excited for stories which in essence will be teasers for a novel I'm unlikely to read. I do think these anthologies should at least try to be standalone; I guess it gets worse a few anthologies down the line when I may be reading some stories which follow a few stories and a novel. I'll be totally adrift probably.
The idea of Black Library authors being let off the leash as far as more adult themes, harsh language, darker and more realistic violence than usual, and even hints of (gasp) sexual content - it's still an appealing one. I guess it's just... disappointingly, while the leash has slipped, many seem to just be sitting in the exact same place they normally would be, seemingly unaware of their new freedom beyond tossing 'fuck' into the dialogue a few times.
6/10
So it really just comes down to whose writing you like. I still think Chris Wraight is the best-suited to Warhammer Crime, good at writing dialogue and putting his gift for characterisation to good use. This is a prequel to his later WH Crime novel, which I'd luckily read. Gareth Hanrahan (who I'd never read before) serves a nice pulpy bit of SF noir and comes across like he's actually read classic noir before, which is a plus. But the similarity of the plots wore on me (though I liked the mad SF-punk overreach of Graham McNeill's offering) and I liked each story a little less than the one before it. By the time I got to Kyme's (the longest, and by this point, feeling like the least original) I was kind of sick of the whole thing.
Many of these WHCrime anthologies seem to be used as 'pilot episodes' by the various authors, hoping to get their character their own novel or at least a follow-up short story (hence Grim Repast following the story Cold Cases, Bloodlines following Aberrant, etc). As someone reading a while after the WHCrime line seems to have spluttered to a halt - someone who hasn't been able to buy every anthology or novel - it's more than a little annoying that I'm expected to get excited for stories which in essence will be teasers for a novel I'm unlikely to read. I do think these anthologies should at least try to be standalone; I guess it gets worse a few anthologies down the line when I may be reading some stories which follow a few stories and a novel. I'll be totally adrift probably.
The idea of Black Library authors being let off the leash as far as more adult themes, harsh language, darker and more realistic violence than usual, and even hints of (gasp) sexual content - it's still an appealing one. I guess it's just... disappointingly, while the leash has slipped, many seem to just be sitting in the exact same place they normally would be, seemingly unaware of their new freedom beyond tossing 'fuck' into the dialogue a few times.
6/10
October 1, 2023
Individual short story reviews:
ABERRANT (Chris Wraight): Can't trust the Catholic church!
EXIT WOUND (Darius Hinks): Ok so like there are actually some good men. False advertising.
THE VIEW FROM OLYMPUS (Gareth Hanrahan): Locked room murder mystery with a hardboiled detective protagonist in the Warhammer universe. This should have been a story made for ME but it was a little disappointing to find out who actually dunnit was none of the characters set up, it was someone else entirely. Fucking great story though.
IMPURITIES (Graham McNeill): The View From Olympus but with inferior tone and superior plot. Once again, there are good men in this city. You guys did not understand the assignment.
NO USE FOR GOOD MEN (Guy Haley): It was fine idk. Not much to say on this one.
COLD CASES (Marc Collins): It feels like maybe you should have seen that one coming.
AGAINST THE GRAIN (Nick Kyme): The least good man of all these not good men and therefore my favourite. Choppier writing style but with a much more enjoyable protagonist. We love a shitbag.
Full book review: The world of Warhammer is so endlessly fascinating and dense and it's always nice to see stories told outside of the Space Marines, taking the galactic grandeur down to a more human scale. I make some jokes about how some of these are good men but in all seriousness, they're really not. They do good things but none of them are better than anybody else. They sacrifice what they shouldn't in order to move ahead and look away when they should stand up. It's not life changing fiction, but it is a great character study on the life and times of citizenry in the Imperium.
ABERRANT (Chris Wraight): Can't trust the Catholic church!
EXIT WOUND (Darius Hinks): Ok so like there are actually some good men. False advertising.
THE VIEW FROM OLYMPUS (Gareth Hanrahan): Locked room murder mystery with a hardboiled detective protagonist in the Warhammer universe. This should have been a story made for ME but it was a little disappointing to find out who actually dunnit was none of the characters set up, it was someone else entirely. Fucking great story though.
IMPURITIES (Graham McNeill): The View From Olympus but with inferior tone and superior plot. Once again, there are good men in this city. You guys did not understand the assignment.
NO USE FOR GOOD MEN (Guy Haley): It was fine idk. Not much to say on this one.
COLD CASES (Marc Collins): It feels like maybe you should have seen that one coming.
AGAINST THE GRAIN (Nick Kyme): The least good man of all these not good men and therefore my favourite. Choppier writing style but with a much more enjoyable protagonist. We love a shitbag.
Full book review: The world of Warhammer is so endlessly fascinating and dense and it's always nice to see stories told outside of the Space Marines, taking the galactic grandeur down to a more human scale. I make some jokes about how some of these are good men but in all seriousness, they're really not. They do good things but none of them are better than anybody else. They sacrifice what they shouldn't in order to move ahead and look away when they should stand up. It's not life changing fiction, but it is a great character study on the life and times of citizenry in the Imperium.
January 25, 2022
A brilliant anthology, simply put.. At the time of getting this book I had a mystery crime, sort of noir itch that I had to scratch. This came in wonderfully, with the only down-side being that it left me wanting more..
I enjoyed the separate story format, with different authors (mostly veterans) telling their stories. To an avid 40k fan this will be a lovely pallet cleanser from the (chain)sword and bolter dramas and for the detective story enthusiast this will be an interesting introduction to the world (with a few confusing tidbits).
With all that being said, if not for my love for the setting, this would recieve 3/5 stars simply due to the thematic clichés tied to the noir/detective spiel. On the surface every character is identical, a law enforcer (or they had a past in law enforcement) and they go digging where they shouldn't.
Any real motivation and the additional dimensions to the character must be found by digging through the story.
In summary, all of these stories have the potential to shine as individual, whole entries that have the necessary time to unfold and demonstrate separate motivations, backgrounds and characteristics. All in love, I love Warhammer and I love Crime (series) and this covers both.
I enjoyed the separate story format, with different authors (mostly veterans) telling their stories. To an avid 40k fan this will be a lovely pallet cleanser from the (chain)sword and bolter dramas and for the detective story enthusiast this will be an interesting introduction to the world (with a few confusing tidbits).
With all that being said, if not for my love for the setting, this would recieve 3/5 stars simply due to the thematic clichés tied to the noir/detective spiel. On the surface every character is identical, a law enforcer (or they had a past in law enforcement) and they go digging where they shouldn't.
Any real motivation and the additional dimensions to the character must be found by digging through the story.
In summary, all of these stories have the potential to shine as individual, whole entries that have the necessary time to unfold and demonstrate separate motivations, backgrounds and characteristics. All in love, I love Warhammer and I love Crime (series) and this covers both.
September 18, 2020
Brilliant from start to finish!
As an introduction to the city of Varangantua you couldn’t ask for more. Six short stories each adding a layer of flavour to be savoured one at a time. There are no weak links in this book but for me the standout stories are “A view from Olympus” by Gareth Hanrahan and “Cold cases” by Marc Colins. No spoilers here but both are worth a second read and satisfy on a number of levels.
If Black Library can maintain this standard going forward then I’m truly excited for the future of the Warhammer crime imprint.
As an introduction to the city of Varangantua you couldn’t ask for more. Six short stories each adding a layer of flavour to be savoured one at a time. There are no weak links in this book but for me the standout stories are “A view from Olympus” by Gareth Hanrahan and “Cold cases” by Marc Colins. No spoilers here but both are worth a second read and satisfy on a number of levels.
If Black Library can maintain this standard going forward then I’m truly excited for the future of the Warhammer crime imprint.
December 21, 2022
A pretty damn good anthology to introduce you to the world of Warhammer Crime.
I was already familiar with Zidarov from Aberrations, having previously read Bloodlines but it was pleasent to read one of his previous investigations. All the other main characters were new to me.
I am definitely interested to learn more about Marc Collins character Quillon Drask, featured here in Cold Cases, who also features in Marcs' novel Grim Repast. His tale here certainly felt like a kick in the teeth towards the main character, which makes me want to see how he recovers and moves forwards.
I was already familiar with Zidarov from Aberrations, having previously read Bloodlines but it was pleasent to read one of his previous investigations. All the other main characters were new to me.
I am definitely interested to learn more about Marc Collins character Quillon Drask, featured here in Cold Cases, who also features in Marcs' novel Grim Repast. His tale here certainly felt like a kick in the teeth towards the main character, which makes me want to see how he recovers and moves forwards.
July 8, 2024
A solid anthology of stories. The protagonists balance on a knife's edge. To give in to vice is to live safely. To be a decent man gets you chewed up and spat out. My favorite stories here were The View From Olympus by Gareth Hanrahan and No Use for Good Men by Guy Haley.
One particular quote has stuck with me from The View From Olympus. It is on the last couple pages. "I rose from the warrens of the lower city to this glittering spire, and I didn't take the mag-shaft to get here. I climbed up on top of a lot of bodies. What you see is what you get."
One particular quote has stuck with me from The View From Olympus. It is on the last couple pages. "I rose from the warrens of the lower city to this glittering spire, and I didn't take the mag-shaft to get here. I climbed up on top of a lot of bodies. What you see is what you get."
May 28, 2022
Incredibly solid collection of short stories for the Warhammer Crime series, with only one real misstep (Exit Wound feeling somewhat detached from the themes and set up of the other stories). My favourite was either No Use For Good Men (can't wait to read Flesh and Steel), or Against The Grain (I'd love to see a standalone book from Nick Kyme)
Honourable mention goes to Impurities which read like a pulp detective radio serial from the 30s in the best way possible.
Honourable mention goes to Impurities which read like a pulp detective radio serial from the 30s in the best way possible.
September 28, 2022
Somewhat exposes how same-y the Warhammer Crime schtick ends up being within the narrow constraints the range has set itself. The title ends up ironic when you look at the table of contents; who in 2020 thinks it's acceptable to put out a multi-author anthology of all-new material and not include any writing by women? Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...
August 14, 2022
3.5*
All of the stories in this anthology are good although only Hinks’ contribution shone beyond this. Considering three of these entries have now led into full length novels, I hope this will be the same for Hinks. I found the anthology Broken City to be far stronger with more standout entries overall.
All of the stories in this anthology are good although only Hinks’ contribution shone beyond this. Considering three of these entries have now led into full length novels, I hope this will be the same for Hinks. I found the anthology Broken City to be far stronger with more standout entries overall.
July 4, 2022
Хороший сборник детективных рассказов про обычных людей из города-улья. Никакого пейсмаринового ура-брат-сват, много быта простого люда вахи. Для людей незнакомых с вахой будет читаться как набор несложных киберпанковых детективных историй
February 19, 2023
Anthology books are always something of a mixed bag but the quality here was consistently high. Quite fun in itself to see how one setting can support multiple different crime genres, procedural, locked room, noir, etc.
March 25, 2021
All of these shorts are good or great but reading this through they all blend into one and are ultimately quite forgettable.
August 8, 2022
A great collection of short stories. Well worth picking up if you like the Warhammer universe but are tired of the normal endless space marine stories!
October 30, 2023
3.5 stars
Gareth Hanrahan story a nice surprise
Gareth Hanrahan story a nice surprise
March 23, 2025
pretty Good
Mixed quality but overall more good than bad stories. We get snippets from novel characters and a few without a novel so far. Strong series.
Mixed quality but overall more good than bad stories. We get snippets from novel characters and a few without a novel so far. Strong series.
September 15, 2020
An excellent anthology of stories set in the Warhammer crime universe and if you thought chaos, necrons and tyrannidd were bad then try the endless bureaucracy of the Imperium
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews